


Bad Habit

by lori_yuy



Category: Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Addiction, Fluff, Frustration, Gift Giving, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Office, Short One Shot, Surprise Kissing, office politics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:26:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29235270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lori_yuy/pseuds/lori_yuy
Summary: Tseng has a bad habit he picked up as a rookie Turk.
Relationships: Rufus Shinra/Tseng
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Bad Habit

**Author's Note:**

> The story of how Tseng got a fountain pen.

He let out another puff, the smoky scent wafting around his face, perfuming his clothes and hair. The workday had been stressful and he's feeling anxiety drain out slowly with each joint that he smoked. Reno shot him a quick glance from the side while also enjoying a joint.

"You know, you're gonna die from that before you die from being a Turk." Reno stated into the wind. He said nothing back in return. What was there to say? He could die from being on the job or die from enjoying something that took the stress away from the job. Neither choice was optimal but he had already gotten into the habit of smoking since first joining the Turks years ago - a bad habit he picked up from Veld himself.

"The old Director isn't dead yet and he smokes twice as much." It was really a poor excuse for his cigarette addiction.

Reno snorted. "Yeah yeah....keep telling yourself that. I'm out. Don't be out here too long and I hope there's still a few left in that box by the time you come back in."

~...~

Little did he know his job would only get harder and more demanding in two years. Veld was ousted as the leader of the Turks and Heidegger was put in his place. The Turks suffered greatly under the directions of Director Heidegger - whom had no real field operation experience and often left the Turks to fend for themselves. Tseng took it upon himself to start directing the field forces based on the things he learned from Veld. It made the strained relationship with his "new boss" even worse. In just a few short weeks, he had no respect for Heidegger left. Nobody on the Turks' side wanted to call Heidegger their "boss" anyway. Tseng unceremoniously sat down on the concrete road when the mission was finally complete and pulled out the last cigarette from the box. He almost had a nervous breakdown when several field teams called saying they were cornered by Avalanche and Heidegger had hung up on their calls for help. He needed to calm his nerves.

There was a breakthrough soon enough but he got the biggest surprise when it was revealed that the Vice President himself had been the mole to Avalanche cells all along and had been funding the terrorist group out of his own pocket for years. He was promoted to the Director's role right before President Shinra ordered his own son to be placed under house arrest under the watch of the Turks. Being Director meant a whole lot of time inside the office, relegated to desk duty and paperwork all day. It didn't help he had a brat to watch now 24/7.

~...~

The first few weeks they sat in the office in silence as Tseng monitored his field teams' activities. He couldn't even go out to smoke when he wanted to now with Rufus being under his watch. In frustration with the nervous energy of nicotine withdraw, he chewed the ends of whatever poor pen was in his hand that day. By the end of the month, there was a stack of pens chewed beyond recognition on his desk and he almost got a mouthful of ink on a particular bad day when the field teams were in a high-stress situation as he was directing them and wracking his brain as fast as he could for a solution. Almost - until Rufus stood up from the couch and pulled the pen out of his mouth before he bit into the ink center.

"You reek of smoke. That stuff can't possibly be good for you." Rufus commented as he tossed the pen into the nearest trash can. It was still a perfectly useable pen - minus the top flowering from the force of Tseng's teeth gnawing on it. He had mostly ignored the VP's presence the past few weeks, letting Rufus wander around the office for his own sanity instead of being locked up in the secret room behind the wall with no one to talk to. Not that Rufus voluntarily talked to him up until now. It was both strange and endearing that the VP had stopped him from ending up with a mouthful of ink to tell him that cigarettes were bad for his body. Ironically he was smoking after hours from the stress of work and watching the VP - only after he's made sure Rufus retired and he's locked the Turks' office for the night.

More weeks passed before he noticed a change of attitude in the VP. Rufus tried to get closer to him as he worked with his field team day in and day out. He even started intellectual discussions with Tseng regarding the company, its inner workings, its future, and improvements to its operations. Rufus's true intelligence shined through during these conversations, highlighting the outdated and greedy way his father is currently running the company. These thoughts would never have surfaced in Tseng's mind if he was still working as the rookie field Turk. It pleased him to know that the future heir to the Shinra Electric Company actually knew and cared about the way the company ran. He found himself listening to the VP more closely over time, entertaining Rufus's ideas and admiring the way Rufus had the future of Shinra planned out in his head.

There were times Rufus sat so close that it made him question the VP's motives. There was nothing they were doing that required Rufus to sit at such a short distance. He found his mind wandering - the way Rufus's icy blue eyes pierced him, the few occasions when Rufus's face was close enough they easily could have kissed... Rufus was attractive, but did he have some kind of interest in Tseng? But why?

It didn't escape him however when Rufus pulls back after a little while each time, grimacing as if something was offending him. _Smoke. He smelled of smoke and he knew it._ Rufus didn't hesitate to tell him as much whenever he had a chance. Perhaps he should try to quit, it was a bad habit after all.

~...~

The following weeks were painful as he was determined to try not smoking a single joint. The nicotine withdraw was harsh on him and he chewed up whole packs of plastic pens in frustration as his body was aching and uncomfortable all day. At the end of the day, as he ran a hand through his hair, loosening it from the tight ponytail, Rufus pulled yet another pen out of his mouth then reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear.

"Can't you chew on something less destructive? Gum or chips for example?" Rufus tossed out yet another good pen. Tseng stared at Rufus with his mouth still open, trying to think of something to say while the lingering feeling of Rufus's warm fingers was still on his neck. "And I can't imagine ink tasting very good. I wouldn't want to try it at least." Rufus said in a low seductive voice as he closed the distance over Tseng's still open lips.

**!!!!!**

The kiss felt surreal as the culmination of months of his imagination became reality. Rufus sighed in contentment. "Your lips are as luscious as they look. Good job trying to quit. You've also dry-cleaned the scent off your suit."

Tseng blanked as the reality of what was happening sank in slowly. Rufus noticed all his little efforts to distance himself from cigarettes. He cleaned the scent off his clothes and his hair out of curiosity of what would happen if he didn't reek of smoke, but a kiss so quick and so direct was out of his thought range. His voice came up dry and he croaked while his eyes scanned Rufus's face.

That smug smile spread over the VP's face. Rufus looked on in amusement. "Did I short-circuit your brain?"

"N-no...I just never thought..."

"You should let your hair down more often, are you even aware of how pretty you are?"

"I don't think .... mmmphmm!!" Rufus shut him up once more, overloading his senses with a hand simultaneously running through his loosened hair.

"My room..."

_He didn't leave the office that night._

~...~

The next time Reno and Rude were in the office, Reno immediately noticed the amicable air between the VP and Tseng. When did that happen? Tseng used to whine about babysitting the VP when they went out for drinks after work. Come to think about it, he hasn't heard Tseng complain about the VP for a few weeks now. In fact, now that he realizes that Tseng hasn't been smoking or reeking of smoke for the same few weeks and had not joined them for drinks in awhile. There was an electrical tension in the air when the two looked at each other. Reno's spidey gossip senses alarms went off full blast.

Reno observed the two all day. There was a clear infatuation from Rufus's side. He was constantly staring at Tseng, observing, judging, whatever it was going through the VP's head. Tseng, however, shot the VP glances throughout the day as well and whenever their eyes locked, Reno could swear he could see some sparks flying. The way their gazes would linger on each other for far too long, the way Tseng would avoid Rufus's gaze after an awkward long moment of staring, the way Tseng has a tiny pink blush on his face that he couldn't hide well enough for Reno not to notice.

Reno shot Rude a look, noticing that Rude was also analyzing the new situation in the office. Not that Rude liked to gossip, but he was always aware of things just as much as Reno was.

"Think they got something going on?" He whispered when nobody else was listening.

Rude only pushed his sunglasses up a bit more. "Mmmhmmm."

It was another few months when they got the bad news from Tseng that the board members were demanding that Veld and the Turks be disbanded entirely. Tseng had been suffering sleep loss in the meantime, barely in the mood for anything else but fear for the lives of his Turks. Rufus watched as he chewed up countless packs of pens in frustration, as he almost broke his PHS when Heidegger demanded that he and the last of his remaining Turks come for a face to face trial in the President's office. It was not going to be a fair trial by any means. Heidegger and Scarlet have been planning the Turks' demise for awhile now but he had no say in what will happen.

Reno and Rude were sent out of the office when Rufus expressed that he wanted to discuss something in private with Tseng, solidifying the duo's idea that something was really going on between the two.

Rufus handed him a solid looking pen that day. "I have a plan, but it's risky. Will you hear me out? Keep that pen and start using it if things pan out well. You can't chew through this one." 

It was a pen with an outer shell made of a stone material.

"My old man gave it to me a long time ago, but I never found any use for it and seeing how you sign documents day in and day out, I'm sure it's of much more use in your hands."

Tseng examined the pen. It was an elegant pen whose body was enveloped in a jet black stone material. It was an antique fountain pen, one too fancy for someone of his usual rank, yet his heart was warm to have received it from Rufus.

"Now about this plan...."

Reno and Rude were not surprised in the least when Rufus showed up to save their butts on the day of the trial. That day, Tseng let his hair down permanently and he looked pretty good with it down.

The next time he got frustrated on the job, he bit his pen and got a reminder that he should never bite his pen again while Rufus laughed at him reeling from the unexpected tooth ache.


End file.
